Mangaluru origin boy Madhav Kamath bags 2nd place in Scrabble World Youth Cup

coastaldigest.com news network
August 23, 2021

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Ten-year-old Madhav Gopal Kamath, a Mangaluru origin boy, has made India proud by securing the second place in the 2021 Scrabble World Youth Cup on Sunday, August 22, 2021. The event, which is normally held in different parts of the world, was this time held online due to the pandemic. Madhav’s second-place finish in the main Under-18 event is the best performance by an Indian scrabble player in the history of the World Youth Cup. The prize comprises a trophy and cash award.

Equally impressive was 12-year-old Suyash Manchali from Bengaluru, a class VII student at MESKKPS, Vidyaranyapura, who finished eighth and was named as the best Under-14 player. This was the first time India had two players in the top ten. The Indian team also received the ‘Spirit of Scrabble’ award for being the team that best played in the true spirit of the game.

Madhav narrowly lost out on the top spot to defending champion 15-year-old Syed Imaad Ali of Pakistan. Madhav and Imaad both had nine wins from 13 games, but Imaad won the title due to a better spread (difference between his scores and opponent’s scores). The annual global event is organised by World English-Language Scrabble Players Association (WESPA) and was hosted this year by Pakistan Scrabble Association. India's participation in the tournament was coordinated by the Scrabble Association of India.

Madhav, who is a class VI student at Sanskriti School, New Delhi, is the second son of Sudhir Kamath and Malavika P. His father Mangalore born Sudhir Kamath is the CEO and Co-founder of 9stacks, India’s fastest growing online poker platform. His grandmother, Surathkal Gowri Kamath was earlier a resident of Pound Garden, Kadri, Mangalore.

Madhav started playing scrabble when he was six. He has previously won the Under-8, Under-10, and Under-12 works titles held in Malaysia 2017, Dubai 2018 and Kaula Lampur 2019 respectively. This year, apart from runner up (2nd rank) in the main Under-18 event, he has won the Under-12 too. He has participated and won prizes in adult tournaments too, including top five finishes in two national level tournaments for adults.

2021 Scrabble World Youth Cup

2021 Scrabble World Youth Cup tournament featured the top 72 Scrabble players aged under 18 from 14 countries, including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Canada, Australia, Nigeria, UK and the USA. Each of the players first played 36 games in a hard-fought preliminary round held over two weekends from 7th to 15th August. The top ten players from the group stage proceeded to the final round on 21st and 22nd August and played a further 13 games each. The tournament was played online, with strict monitoring protocols in place to prevent unfair play, with the players being observed constantly.

India’s competitive Scrabble circuit has seen an upswing in recent years, with India-born Akshay Bhandarkar winning the world title a few years back, and Indians consistently ranking in the top 50 in the World Championships for adults and amongst the top 20 in the Youth Championships. The recent lockdown has given a further push to online Scrabble, and many talented youngsters have taken to the game in a big way. With both Madhav and Suyash being under 12, they have many more years to participate in the Under-18 Championships, said a media release by Scrabble Association of India.

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News Network
April 11,2024

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Udupi: A middle aged couple lost their lives while their teenage son survived with critical wounds after a speeding car, which was travelling from Maharashtra to Kerala, fell off a flyover in Kundapur taluk of Udupi district. 

The deceased have been identified as Munnavar (49), who was driving the car, and his wife Sameera (41), a native of Kannur in Kerala. Their son Suhail (18), who was in the car, suffered severe injured and is recovering at Manipal Hospital. He is said to be out of danger.

The family was traveling from Kollapur to Kannur as Sameera was a native of Kannur. Their plan was to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr in Sameera’s parental home.  

However, on Tuesday (April 9) morning, when the car reached near Bobbaryanakatte, it reportedly went out of control of the driver and fell off the flyover on to the service road.

All three were immediately rushed to the hospital in Kundapur. Sameera died immediately upon admission to the hospital, while Munnavar succumbed to injuries at Manipal Hospital on April 10. The mortal remains of both were handed over to relatives after the post-mortem.

Kundapur DySp Belliyappa, Circle Inspector Nada Kunar, Traffic SIs Naveen Naik, and Savitri Nayak visited the accident spot for the inspection.

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Shabbir Rizvi
April 13,2024

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A massive tragedy struck Moscow last week as five armed assailants stormed the Crocus Concert Hall and opened indiscriminate fire on concertgoers, murdering over 130 and wounding many more.

The horrific massacre at the glitzy commercial center, which prompted a massive manhunt, led to the arrest of one assailant at the scene of the crime and others in the Bryansk forest, about 340 km southwest of the Russian capital. 

Almost immediately, Daesh (or as the West calls “ISIS”) claimed responsibility for the ghastly massacre, releasing body cam footage of the shooters opening fire on people at the popular concert hall. 
Since then, many have raised questions about the terrorist group’s motivations and objectives of the attack - and rightfully so.

Daesh has historically been at the service of Western powers. For example, any time the US needs an excuse to justify military operations from Syria to Iraq - Daesh just happens to raise its ugly face and sow chaos and destabilization.

In fact, Daesh is still the main justification for why the US illegally occupies much of Syria and Iraq - despite Axis of Resistance forces led by the late anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani destroying the edifice of the terror group in the region.

Or when Iran faced foreign plots in the form of armed riots in 2022 - rioters that had received training and financial support from American agencies - Daesh took advantage of the chaos and killed over a dozen pilgrims in a cowardly attack on the Shah Cheragh shrine in southern Iran’s Shiraz city.

The timing of the attack came as local security agencies were busy containing the armed rioters, and was seemingly a final bid by foreign hostile powers to foment chaos and disorder in Iran. 

Chaos and destabilization are key to the nefarious plots hatched by US imperialists to push their hegemonic agendas. Since the very beginning of the Cold War, the US has been notorious for using mercenary proxy forces in order to advance its imperialistic goals. 

So what is Daesh doing in Moscow? Three events come to mind that suggest things aren’t exactly what they seem. In other words, there is more to it than meets the eye.

Let’s switch back to January 2024 - outgoing US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said “Putin faces some nasty surprises on the battlefield this year.”

Nuland was referencing the $60 billion supplemental funding for Ukraine from US Congress - funding that has from the start never been kept track of. Billions of dollars worth of money go into weapons, logistics, and other “aid.” It is no secret that Ukraine has been using mercenaries - even Takfiris. 

Daesh fighting in Ukraine is not even a new development. Reports of Daesh fighters fleeing Syria to fight in Ukraine could be recorded as far back as 2015. Fighters were trained under Daesh and then sent to Ukraine to fight Donbas separatists on behalf of the Kiev regime.

We have seen Daesh fighting on the same side as American interests at least twice in recent times - once in Syria against the democratically-elected Syrian government, and second in Ukraine, against Russia – a key US adversary. Also, let’s not forget Afghanistan where Daesh fought the Taliban alongside the US.

Nuland insists that Putin will face challenges on the “battlefield” but Ukrainian drone attacks and bombings throughout Moscow have already set a terroristic precedent for attacks on Russian soil.

A diversity of tactics by employing Takfiri terrorists is still carrying out the same violence by other, more shocking means. 

Second, the US knew in advance of a terrorist attack - with the US embassy in Moscow cautioning Americans to avoid large gatherings days before the dastardly attack that claimed more than 130 lives.

In a message to Americans, the embassy stated: “The Embassy is monitoring reports that extremists are planning to attack large gatherings in Moscow, including concerts, in the near future, and US citizens should avoid large gatherings for the next 48 hours.”

Though the message was posted on March 7 and warned of an imminent attack within two days, it seems the US had some damning intelligence. To what degree this information was shared - if it was shared at all - remains unclear.

It is well within the US playbook to post a message of this nature before an attack to absolve themselves of any wrongdoing - but what did the embassy staff and their handlers knew in advance?

The knowledge of the imminent attack also raises other questions. The apprehended shooters revealed they were recruited by unknown people via Telegram, and offered a million rubles for the job.

This is not the modus operandi of Daesh - who typically send fighters on missions that would most certainly ensure they do not survive. However, this does have the markings of the US - which has previously tested Daesh recruitment methods via entrapment cases. 

Furthermore, Russian intelligence confirmed years ago that the US has been training Daesh for attacks on Russian soil. So regardless of whether the assailants were Daesh or not, US influence is clearly in one way or another seen in this attack.

Even if Daesh wants to take credit for the attack, ultimately they are just tools in the hands of their American financiers who are seemingly only deployed when the US needs to cause commotion. 

And of course, there is the final point - the timing of the attack, and the usage of Daesh itself - corresponds to the international critical lens on Israel.

The Tel Aviv regime has never been under more pressure and detested to such a degree. Its war crimes in the besieged Gaza Strip and disregard for international law have exposed its illegitimate nature.

The public image of Israel has simply never been worse, and they would need something absolutely horrific - and something they can use to their own benefit politically - to get out of the mess.

So where does Daesh come in? One must recall the first few weeks of the Al Aqsa Storm operation - where Zionist media started a campaign falsely equating Hamas with Daesh (ISIS).

The campaign, circulated with the false slogan “Hamas is ISIS” painted Hamas resistance fighters as Takfiri terrorists in order to gain international support for the Zionist cause.

This backfired massively. Hamas and Daesh are well-known enemies, are not ideologically aligned, and do not consider themselves allies in the slightest matter.

This Zionist lie was so far-fetched that even Western media outlets such as Time magazine, Politico, and AP news agency published articles detailing how the two groups are not alike. 

Now, as the Zionist image is in tatters, a Daesh attack works in its favor - as it always has.

Racist Zionist politicians and pundits scrambled to social media to warn the world of “Islamism” and to insist yet again that Daesh is the same as Hamas, warning that if they do not destroy Hamas the world would see these attacks in Europe and in the United States, carried out by Hamas (who have never conducted terrorist operations as all of their targets are military targets, and further Hamas operations are limited to only occupied Palestine). 

The attack that killed over a hundred innocents is being used as Israeli propaganda to conduct their own war crimes against the Palestinian people.

At best, this is standard Zionist racism and propaganda. At worst, the Zionists themselves had a direct hand in this, at a bare minimum having some knowledge from US intelligence services.

The entire situation screams of foreign manipulation and shadowy Western actors. Daesh has been the Western tool for over a decade now to sow chaos and mayhem - and it seemingly continues to be a go-to tactic for CIA-Mossad operations. 

Over a hundred lives were lost and thousands were changed forever. The world must mourn with Moscow and the Russian people over this horrific loss of life - but it must also remain vigilant and ask the right questions.

Who really benefits from chaos and destruction in Russia? Who really benefits from chaos and destruction in Somalia, Iraq and Syria, where Daesh also operates? 

One thing is undeniable: wherever you find Daesh, you will always find the shadow of the US with it.

 

(The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of coastaldigest.com)

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News Network
April 20,2024

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New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday alleged that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is being pushed towards a “slow death” inside Tihar jail by denying him insulin and consultations with his doctor.

Kejriwal, who has Type-2 diabetes, has been asking for insulin and a video conferencing with his family doctor but his requests are being denied by the jail administration, party spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said in a press conference.

"I want to say with full responsibility that a conspiracy is underway for the slow death of Kejriwal," Bharadwaj claimed citing blood sugar readings of the Chief Minister in jail.

He also slammed the Tihar administration, BJP, Centre and Delhi LG for allegedly denying insulin to Kejriwal and said the Delhi Chief Minister had been suffering from diabetes for the last 20-22 years.

On Friday, the chief minister council Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi said Kejriwal has not been administered insulin to control his sugar levels since his arrest, terming it “shocking” and “alarming”.

The ED had on Thursday claimed before the court that Kejriwal was eating food high in sugar like mangoes and sweets every day, despite having Type-2 diabetes, to create grounds for medical bail.

Kejriwal, however, refuted the ED’s claims by asserting before a court that the food he consumed was in conformity with the diet chart prepared by his doctor.

“Out of 48 meals sent from home, only three times mangoes were there…,” Singhvi told the court.

Bharadwaj said Kejriwal was allowed by the court to use a machine in the jail to monitor his daily blood sugar levels.

"Overall, it was a conspiracy to finish Kejriwal so his multiple organ damage and when he comes out of jail after 2-4 months he goes for treatment of kidney, heart and other organs," said Bharadwaj, who holds the portfolio of health in Delhi government.

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